Claudio Carvalho In a province in China, Detective Ma Shan (Wen Jiang) wakes up on the day after the wedding party of his sister Ma Juan (Huang Fan) and finds that his gun with three bullets is missing. Ma Shan drank too much in the party and does not recall what might have happen with his weapon. He falls in disgrace with his superiors and investigates who might have stolen the gun. When his former sweetheart Li Xiaomeng (Jing Ning) is found dead with a shot of his weapon, he becomes the prime suspect. When the police force arrests his acquaintance Zhou Xiaogang (Shi Liang), he discloses that Li Xiaomeng was accidentally killed since his friend was the real target of the murderer. Ma Shan uses Zhou Xiaogang as a bait to lure and arrest the criminal an retrieve his missing gun."The Missing Gun" was one of the greatest and best surprises among the movies I have recently watched. China Video usually produces low budget, violent and full of action movies with messed screenplays, but "The Missing Gun" is actually a refreshing story that exposes a shock of cultures. In most of Western movies, it is very easy to get a gun (banal in North American movies), but in Communist China, guns are prohibited for the population and therefore they are a symbol of power, respect and honor to the policeman. Even the number of bullets are limited in accordance with this film. Based on this explanation, we can understand the saga of Ma Shan to find his missing gun. This movie has great interpretations, wonderful locations and a beautiful cinematography. The bicycles chase is surrealistic and unusual and one of the most attractive scenes along this great film. The ambiguous conclusion, with the death of Ma Shan, ends this highly recommended movie with golden key. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "A Arma Perdida" ("The Lost Weapon")

eebmtl Don't look for HK type action, this is a close look at a different culture through one man's eyes.The man in question is a Chinese police officer who has, through drunken carelessness, lost his gun, an unpardonable offense.A carefully structured and paced film, not without some amusing moments, but for the most part a whodunnit more than anything else.The camera work is brilliant, some of the sequences are fantastic, in fact I wonder if anyone can tell me if they have ever seen the opening technique use anywhere else, (I think what was done was, to mount the camera and drive forward while the camera films from the POV looking out the back and then the film was played backwards, GREAT effect!), it is similar to effects seen before, I.E. the opening sequence in Killing Zoe, but more dizzying.Really nice movie and with a terrific ending, someone should remake this film. I watched it alone one night and rented again a week later to watch again with my wife.Now you go watch it!

anhedonia Anyone expecting a John Woo/Ringo Lam-type actioner will be sorely disappointed by this Chinese film, "The Missing Gun." Director Lu Chuan adopts western film-making techniques, but paces his film deliberately, not hurrying through the motions or adopting slam-bang action to tell his story.You could draw parallels to Walter Hill's "48 HRS." (1982) and Akira Kurosawa's "Stray Dog" (1949), both of which dealt with similar stories of a police officer losing his handgun, which falls into the hands of a criminal."The Missing Gun" isn't as action-packed as Hill's film or as perceptive and intriguing as Kurosawa's. Then again, emulating Kurosawa is no easy task.But the film provides an interesting lesson about gun culture. In this country, we have a nation obsessed with owning firearms. In "The Missing Gun," the protagonist is a police officer Ma Shan (Jiang Wen) facing embarrassment, ridicule and shame for having lost his service pistol. Private ownership of guns is banned so the police know exactly how many bullets are left in the weapon.I am not advocating banning gun-ownership in this country, but "The Missing Gun" provides an intriguing cultural lesson, especially when we have an American president and congressional leaders who kowtowed to the gun lobby and recently let lapse the assault weapons ban, apparently not seeing the harm in letting the public purchase Uzis and AK-47s. Someone has still to explain to me why these weapons are needed to hunt."The Missing Gun" does not adopt film-making styles seen in the works of Zhang Yimou or Chen Kaige. This film definitely has a western influence. The camera moves quickly, there are quick cuts and for a low-budget film - it was apparently shot for about $250,000 - the cinematography is spectacularly good. But instead of clichéd storytelling techniques, Lu Chuan gives us some novelty. There's a delightful chase scene and his characters certainly aren't conventional. Ma Shan spends much of the first act asking various people whether they've stolen his gun. But there's a sense of mystery to all this, because we're never sure if they're being truthful. And the director opts for a denouement that's unexpected, especially if you've grown up with American films. "The Missing Gun" is by no means a masterpiece. But it offers more insight into human nature than much of what Hollywood churns out these days. And if you're in the mood for something different, a film that takes its time unraveling the mystery, this film has much to offer the discriminating moviegoer.

munchiehk It was hard to believe the budget on which this movie was shot, as it puts most of the big budget Hong Kong (not to mention Hollywood) movies to shame in the cinematography stakes. This is the story of the fabled honest cop, who loses his gun during a drunken night at his brother's wedding, and his subsequent efforts to recover it. It is at once surreal, hilarious, paranoiac, and exhilarating... a real rollercoaster of a movie. The acting is superb, the scenery gorgeous, and the direction as tight as a drum. If you have not yet seen this one, do yourself a favour, and seek it out at your nearest Chinatown DVD shop. You won't regret it.